FINRA Fines TD Ameritrade Clearing and SG Americas Securities a Total of $1.8 Million for Required Options Positions Reporting and Supervisory Violations

WASHINGTON — The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) announced today that it has fined TD Ameritrade Clearing, Inc. $1,150,000 and SG Americas Securities, Inc. $675,000 for failing to report or accurately report certain large options positions and for related supervisory deficiencies.

Thomas Gira, Executive Vice President, FINRA Market Regulation, said, "It is essential that regulators receive accurate, timely and complete information about large options positions, particularly those positions that involve accounts trading in concert, because this information is necessary to conduct market surveillance and to protect the integrity of the marketplace."

FINRA found that from May 2007 to January 2010, TD Ameritrade failed to properly aggregate certain reportable positions as acting-in-concert, which impacted nearly 4,100 accounts and resulted in the firm failing to report approximately 1.4 million positions. In addition, TD Ameritrade failed to establish and maintain reasonable supervisory procedures and supervisory systems to ensure compliance with rules applicable to the accurate reporting of options positions.

In a separate case, FINRA found that from December 2007 to January 2013, SG Americas failed to report over-the-counter (OTC) options positions in approximately 500,000 instances; failed to report the counter-party for OTC options positions or incorrectly reported its customers' OTC options positions in more than 600,000 instances; and failed to report or misreported OTC index options positions in more than 900,000 instances. Additionally, SG Americas failed to establish and maintain reasonable supervisory procedures and supervisory systems to ensure compliance with rules applicable to the accurate reporting of options positions.

In concluding these settlements, TD Ameritrade and SG Americas neither admitted nor denied the charges, but consented to the entry of FINRA's findings.

Investors can obtain more information about, and the disciplinary record of, any FINRA-registered broker or brokerage firm by using FINRA's BrokerCheck. FINRA makes BrokerCheck available at no charge. In 2012, members of the public used this service to conduct 14.6 million reviews of broker or firm records. Investors can access BrokerCheck at www.finra.org/brokercheck or by calling (800) 289-9999. Investors may find copies of this disciplinary action as well as other disciplinary documents in FINRA's Disciplinary Actions Online database.

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